Media Effects
The role of the mass
media in American
politics
What is “mass media”?
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Print media (newspapers, magazines)
Broadcast media (television and radio)
Internet
Importance of mass media
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Primary conduit of information about politics
But is the media passive?
Is the media biased or objective?
If biased, does it matter?
Traditional view of media effects
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Expected effects:
- information
- persuasion
Experimental design
Findings:
- little retention of information
- little persuasion
“Minimal Effects Hypothesis”
More subtle effects
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Agenda-setting
Priming
Framing
Agenda-setting
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Importance of issue
Scope of issues/answers
Iyengar, Kinder and Peters study
Effect increased by
- lead story status
- vivid story, emotional engagement
- lack of political sophistication of viewer
Priming
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“Cognitive misers”
Which aspect of an issue weighs most heavily
in our attitude
Iyengar, Kinder and Peters Study
Not just the news . . .
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Entertainment shows may also have effects
- agenda-setting
- priming
Even “better” than the news
- full hour on single issue
- consistency from week to week
Examples
Framing!
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What is the “frame” of a story?
What is the cultural or ideological context in
which we place an issue?
Manipulating the frames
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Klan rally
- free speech
- social order
Bosnian conflict
- genocide
- centuries of ethnic conflict
Bottom line:
Media doesn’t change what we
think, only how we think
Characteristics of the Media and
Media Coverage
(and their
implications)
A look ahead
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Ideological bias
Corporate control of media
Personalization/Personality Politics
Dramatization
Fragmentation
Ideological bias?
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Allegations of liberal bias – journalists
Allegations of conservative bias – media
owners / advertisers
Does it matter?
Corporate control of media
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Limits the number of “real” news outlets
Profit motive
- demand-driven news
- cost-cutting measures
- journalists “sell souls” for access
- rush to print
Demand-driven news
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Saturation coverage of ultimately non-historical
events
May crowd out other stories
May “burn out” the public, make us jaded
Examples: O.J., Paris Hilton
Cost-cutting measures
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“Canned” news stories (same stories in every
paper)
Lack of in-depth research
Usual suspects interviewed, no diversity of
viewpoints
Objectivity vs. Access
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Willing to do “puff pieces” in order to get choice
interviews
Embedded journalists
The rush to the presses
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Use sources and tips without confirmation
Trying to predict the news
Implications
- may get things wrong, and people don’t pay
attention to retractions
- elections: people behave strategically
Personalization / Personality
Politics
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Tendency to focus on issues through lens of
individual “victims”
Tendency to focus on personality of candidates
Implications
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May actually engage some viewers
Personality characteristics may be good cues to
how politicians will actually behave
But . . . May gloss over important policy issues
Example of personalization: CNN
(October 17, 2000)
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“there might have been a defeat for Gore on the
likeability factor.” (Bob Novak)
“Gore’s clear decision to be aggressive, to try to define
very sharp differences [might make him seem]
assertive and tough minded [or] rude and smug.” (Jeff
Greenfield)
“In this forum, where he was answering questions and
being that aggressive, it will be interesting to see
whether or not it plays as [if] he was a little terrier
running out and trying to answer this person’s question
versus standing back and saying: You know, let me
talk down to you.” (Tamala Edwards)
Dramatization
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News told through narrative structure and
visuals
“If it bleeds, it leads”
May result in important pieces of information
being cut because they don’t fit with the
narrative structure
Oversimplifies issues
Polarizes issues by playing up dramatic conflict
Fragmentation
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News told in small bits (esp. w/ broadcast
media)
Oversimplification
Don’t see stories in context, developing
dynamic, connection between various issues
and events
In sum
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Many aspects of news coverage result in poor
quality information and skewed decisions about
which stories to cover
May not persuade us to vote Republican rather
than Democratic, but these biases do affect
how we think about political issues
So . . .
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If media is such an important component of
political life and
Media is so terrible
What can we do about it?